Strike 3: The recently completed “rivalry weekend” in college football didn’t include Colorado vs. Colorado State. Never mind that Florida and Florida State met, or that Clemson played South Carolina, Louisville faced Kentucky or Georgia played Georgia Tech. Around here, we had Colorado playing a meaningless game at Kansas State and CSU going against Air Force in front of a half empty Canvas Stadium.
That stinks for local fans.
Regardless of the condition of each football program – and they’re both down at the moment – CSU and CU should meet on the football field, in front of a pack house, on the final Saturday of every regular season. Thanksgiving weekend or not, if you played it, they would come.
However, due to shortsighted and self-absorbed administrators, fans in these parts don’t get what they should get.
And they wonder why attendance is down in both Boulder and Fort Collins on that weekend.
On the bright side, what they do get is pretty special in it’s own way.
This Saturday, we get the Rocky Mountain Showdown on the hardcourt.
Ironically, preseason hype and hopes were a mile high for both football programs back in August. That just didn’t work out. Meanwhile, hoops fans were looking ahead at both upcoming seasons with caution, because both the Buffs and the Rams suffered a lot of personnel losses after last season, and were being forced to reload on the fly.
That part did work out. And pretty nicely so far.
In Fort Collins, new head coach Ali Farokhmanesh lost NBA first-round talent Nique Clifford and the rest of the CSU starting lineup to either graduation or transfer. Former head coach Niko Medved is now at Minnesota, along with former Ram Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, while starting guard Kyan Evans moved to North Carolina, where he’s been starting for the Tar Heels.
But the portal gave back as much as it took away. Newcomers Corey Booth – the Illinois transfer is the son of former Denver Nuggets GM Calvin Booth – has been outstanding, along with Marist transfer Josh Pascarelli. Holdover Kyle Jorgensen has been pretty solid, too.
The Rams have started out very nicely – with the exception of a bad home court loss to plucky Denver University. After losing a close game to Virginia Tech, they beat Wichita State and South Florida to complete a three-game set in the Bahamas. Now 6-2, they’re actually ahead of the pace they set last year when they won the Mountain West tournament title.
Tad Boyle went the international route to rebuild a Buffs roster that lost three NBA players after the 2023-24 season and struggled a season ago in the mighty Big 12. But this season, the Buffs have been rolling from the opening tip. They head into Fort Collins this weekend with an 8-0 record, and with a balanced scoring group averaging better than 90 points per game. It hasn’t been a murderer’s row of opponents just yet – that awaits them in Big 12 play – but they have taken down Big Ten member Washington along with Providence already.
The last time they played at Moby Arena, there were five future NBA players on the floor at the same time. Will that happen again this time?
So the Rivalry Weekend meeting we should be getting on the football field will be on the court instead. Even if it’s a week late, like they say, better late than never.
